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OTTOVILLE — Two girls cage teams with identical 9-2 overall records and 2-1 in Putnam County League met up at Heckman Gymnasium Thursday night.

Visiting Continental was riding the crest of eight straight victories and host Ottoville was coming off a stinging league loss last Saturday afternoon at the hands of Columbus Grove. All of the ingredients for what appeared to be a classic PCL matchup were in place.

Unfortunately for the streaking Lady Pirates, the Lady Green was looking to avenge their Saturday setback. The result was a dismantling of Continental 64-40.

“It’s nice to have a game this quickly after a loss to bounce back from,” Ottoville head coach David P. Kleman stated.

The game started out just as anyone would expect: intense defensive pressure at both ends of the floor and both teams pushing the ball up the floor on offense. After 2 1/2 minutes of play the score was knotted at 2-2. From that point on, it was all Lady Green, all the time. Ottoville’s smothering defense forced Continental into eight first-quarter turnovers and allowed just one more field goal in the last 5:30 of the period. Senior Erika Kaufman led the Lady Green’s 16-4 assault with her stellar play at both ends of the floor.

Coach Kleman went on to say, “Erika Kaufman got us started in the right direction tonight. She was like the Energizer Bunny. I was pleased with our team effort as well and how well we responded to Continental’s aggressive and hard defensive play. Give them credit, they played hard all night.”

After two quarters, Continental found itself in an even deeper hole, 35-17. Ottoville’s defense pressured the Lady Pirates into eight second-quarter miscues as Kaufman led the Lady Green with 12 first-half points. The Lady Green’s other two senior standouts, Courtney Schimmoeller and Erica Vorst, got busy with nine and eight markers, respectively.

Schimmoeller and Vorst led the Lady Green’s solid 17-point third-quarter attack with a couple of 3s and deuces to end the period with their largest lead of the night at 52-31.

Krystal Markward’s solid floor game kept the spark in the offense in the fourth quarter with six of her 10 total points.

Vorst’s game-high 16 points and five assists led a balanced attack, followed by Schimmoeller’s 15 points and five assists. Kaufman finished with 14 markers and four assists and the junior Markward netted 10. Ottoville was a respectible 12-of-15 from the line. The Lady Green (10-2, 3-1 PCL) visits PCL foe Pandora-Gilboa Tuesday.

Continental’s woes were evident with 22 turnovers, 13-of-24 from the charity stripe and just 12 field goals. They were led by Stephanie Spitnale with eight points. The Lady Pirates (9-3, 2-2 PCL) next game will take place at home against PCL foe Fort Jennings Thursday.

Ottoville’s JVs destroyed Continental 33-2. Brittany Beining led the hosts with nine.

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